Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.
Issue link: https://insideunmanned.epubxp.com/i/668560
53 unmanned systems inside April/May 2016 ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY. Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class, Joe Bishop of Staff Cara LaPointe. That required identify- ing and bringing together a diverse set of stake- holders—from inside Navy and its research es- tablishments, of course, but also, as it turned out, from other services and offices within the Department of Defense and beyond. "Your stakeholders are not just traditional players in terms of unmanned systems," said LaPointe, "it's also the folks that build and de- sign the ships, that build and design the air- craft, the aircraft carriers and the submarines." A draft of those goals has been completed and, as of the end of March, was under review. The current push is to complete the strategy, in the form of a roadmap, a roadmap that will look at where things stand now, where the Navy is going over the next five years—that is over the period of the military's Future Years Defense Program (FYDP)—and where it should be go- ing from then through 2030. "I don't want to be too grandiose or far-reach- ing," said Dorothy Engelhardt, DASN's director of programs, "because technology oftentimes leaps when you least expect it. And so some- times writing a roadmap that's 40 years from now—it's not worth the paper it's written on." New Requirements Playing a key role throughout the process has been the Navy's new Unmanned Warfare Sys- tems directorate (OPNAV N99), a rapid pro- totyping and development shop launched by Mabus alongside DASN to help bridge the gaps in the technology development process. Led by Rear Admir. Robert Girrier, N99 is divided into two main sections, explained Capt. Thomas Murphy, a program development branch head for unmanned warfare systems. One section, N991, focuses on rapid prototyping and is developing unmanned requirements. "They've done a call out to the fleet to look at requirements that best fit unmanned systems— where there are gaps or they need this technol- ogy to help provide a capability," Murphy said. 'START UPS'